Innovation & Wealth › Ancient merchants & trade › First coins (Lydia)
King Croesus of Lydia
reigned c. 560–546 BC· Innovator or entrepreneur· Innovators & entrepreneurs
Mostly agreedGood evidence; some details uncertain.
Last king of Lydia, so rich that 'rich as Croesus' still means fabulously wealthy.
See it on the Innovation & Wealth map →What happened
Croesus ruled from Sardis in western Turkey, drawing wealth from gold washed down the Pactolus river and tribute from conquered Greek cities of Ionia. He is credited with the first coins of pure gold and pure silver, replacing electrum. He sent lavish gold gifts to Apollo's oracle at Delphi. When he attacked Persia, Herodotus says, the oracle had warned a great empire would fall: it was his own. Cyrus the Great conquered Lydia around 546 BC.
Impact on society and the economy
His treasury made his name a byword for wealth, and the pure-metal coins credited to him became a model for Greek and Persian money.
Fortune, legacy and how we know
Herodotus's Histories (about 430 BC), a Greek vase of about 500 BC showing him on a pyre, and excavations at Sardis since 1958 that uncovered a gold refinery from about his era.
Still debated
Whether the gold and silver 'Croeseid' coins were struck by him or after the Persian conquest is debated, as is his fate. His fortune cannot be reliably converted into today's dollars.
Connections (2)
▸King Croesus of Lydia is credited with refining First coins (Lydia)Mostly agreed
The connection
Lydia's first coins were electrum, a gold-silver mix of uneven purity. Croesus is credited with separating the two metals and issuing coins of pure gold and pure silver at a fixed ratio, the first two-metal currency, which made coin values more reliable.
When and how
Sardis, capital of Lydia, about 560–546 BC.
How sure are we?
A gold refinery of about his era was excavated at Sardis, and 'Croeseid' coins survive. Greek writers credit Lydians with the first gold and silver coins.
Debates
Some numismatists argue that some or all Croeseids were struck after the Persian conquest of about 546 BC, so his personal role is uncertain.
▸King Croesus of Lydia met, in Herodotus's tale, the lawmaker behind Solon's cancellation of debts in AthensLegend & tradition
The connection
Herodotus tells how Solon, traveling after his reforms, visited Croesus at Sardis. Shown the king's treasures, Solon refused to call him the happiest of men, saying no one should be judged happy until his life ended. Croesus later lost his kingdom to Persia and remembered the warning.
When and how
Sardis, Lydia, supposedly in the mid-500s BC, as told by Herodotus around 430 BC.
How sure are we?
Only Herodotus and later writers tell it, and the dates make a meeting unlikely, since Solon's travels probably came before Croesus became king.
Debates
Plutarch knew of chronological objections but kept the story anyway. Most historians treat it as a moral tale about wealth and fortune, not history.